It’s been some time since Anthony Gargano was the topic of a Crossing Broad post.

Today, ‘the Cuz’ appears on CB, via the Subway Fresh Take hotline, because we were alerted to a pseudo-diatribe that he embarked on to begin the 11 o’clock hour of today’s show.

The gist of the complaint is that a listener tweeted the station’s account, saying that Monday’s show “sucks” due to criticism directed at Jalen Hurts. That resulted in Cuz putting this dude in the bagster, and delivering a refreshing and measured tongue-lashing, slapping down the (mostly younger) portion of the Eagles fan base who think it’s supposed to be all roses and sunshine and blowing smoke up everybody’s butt instead of delivering honest opinions.

Volume up:


The rant itself isn’t entirely noteworthy, but the topic is, and you see this frequently among younger fans, who think you’re out of line for daring to question a local athlete. These are the same types who call NBA players by their first name and make Tyrese Maxey their Twitter profile picture after the guy plays two games in a Sixers uniform. It’s a devotion to unproven athletes that equates to religious fanaticism.

It would be one thing if Gargano was unfair to Hurts, and said “this guy blows, I know he’s gonna fail, get him out of here.” But that’s not what he’s saying. He’s just saying that he’s not super high on the sophomore quarterback, and has his doubts, and that’s when the “weak minded” fan boys come in and rip you for being ‘Negadelphia’ or something along those lines.

It’s a different story if crochety old dinosaurs are spewing pessimistic takes on the reg, but that’s not very common these days. And there’s a difference between media shit stirring and the offering of reasonable takes that you might disagree with. This is where the disconnect lies between generations, because younger sports fans tend to conflate those two ideas.

Anyway, it’s a fascinating and relatively new thing. Ten years ago you didn’t have any of this.